• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 9, 2023

Google took its AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE) global on Wednesday, giving more than 120 countries and territories worldwide access to the technology.

The announcement -- made in Mexico City at a Google for Mexico event -- demonstrates Google's commitment to driving traffic from search to publisher sites, and how the technology can move brands into advertising more across Google's network of sites.

The company said advancements in generative artificial intelligence have enabled search users to query strings of words in lengthy and complex questions that the engine could previously not answer.

Google also has figured out how to serve up more links to a wider range of sources on result pages that it believes will create new opportunities to discover content.

New Street Research Partner Dan Salmon wrote in a research note that this remains a top concern for publishers that rely on Google search for traffic.

“The addition of links also helps users build user trust in the generative results, by continuing to highlight trusted sources of information used, and pointing users to destinations where they can learn more about the subject they are searching about,” he wrote.

He wrote that about 15% of searches each day are new to Google. This behavior continues to expand in SGE, as searching becomes more detailed and refined, especially with the option to ask follow-up questions, which is now embedded directly in the search results, with prior questions and results still visible.

Learning a language can open new opportunities in a person’s life. English alone is estimated to have 1.5 billion learners worldwide, but it’s not always easy to have the opportunity to practice and get feedback.

A new feature launched in October can assist people to improve their English-speaking skills in Search.

The feature is now available to Search users on Android in Mexico, along with Argentina, Colombia, India, and Indonesia.

This feature, designed to be used alongside other language learning tools, provides learners with real-time feedback on their grammar, use of words, and more.

Sometimes words can have more than one meaning, and that is where AI can add context to the translation. The feature will have the ability to translate a phrase where certain words have more than one meaning. The terms will be underlined, and users can tap any of those words to indicate the specific meaning that reflects the intension. This option may also appear when you need to specify the gender for a particular word."

Definition links are not new to SGE, but now Google has expanded it from educational topics such as science, economics, or history to coding and health information. This will roll out during the next month in English in the United States, with more countries and languages expected to follow soon.